The A-League season is fast approaching, but a competition which has seen more than its share of controversy is playing host to another ugly pre-season stoush, as an organisation seen by many as unreasonable faces off against an organisation which is seen by many as unreasonable.

A spokesman for one of the organisations spoke to FMF at length about the ongoing situation, saying the past behaviour of the other organisation has led to this current stand-off.

“Quite simply, we’ve had enough. We’ve done our best to work with them despite their history of antagonistic behaviour and ignoring what we see as reasonable requests to let us do our jobs. We have an obligation to do what we feel is best, even if it’s in the face of those who, whether it’s because of ignorance or bias, try to stand in our way.”

These sentiments were echoed by a spokesman for the other organisation.

“We have an obligation to do what we feel is best, even if it’s in the face of those who, whether it’s because of ignorance or bias, try to stand in our way. We’ve done our best to work with them despite their history of antagonistic behaviour and ignoring what we see as reasonable requests to let us do our jobs.

“Quite simply, we’ve had enough.”

Football Federation Australia is concerned by what it sees as further undermining of its premier competition over what has become a clash of egos. Spokesman Clive Umani told reporters on Monday it hopes the organisations can find common ground before the season kicks off in October.

“When you have one organisation which expects its mandate to serve its community to be respected no matter their conduct, and another which expects its mandate to serve its community to be respected no matter their conduct, you would expect both parties to recognise their similarities to each other and work together towards a common goal. Unfortunately this situation has devolved into a public case of brinksmanship, the likes of which we thought were long behind the code.

“We hope both groups follow the example of other organisations in Australian football, which long ago learned that when you are used to getting your way for as long as you have been, the last thing you want to do is publicly drag the sport because you are unwilling to change.”